PSWHQ 004 : PSW jobs in Hospitals and How to Get one: A Nurse’s Prospective

podcast image for podcast with Tanisha smaller size

Out of the total number of Personal Support Workers in Ontario, only a small fraction of them work in hospitals. However, their contribution is immense.

In today’s episode of the Personal Support Worker podcast we have Tanisha with us who is a Nurse and works in a hospital. She has been in the nursing profession for a number of years and has worked with many PSW’s.

I wanted to get a Nurse’s prospective on the Personal Support profession and see how much they value the contribution of PSW’s in acute care settings such as hospitals.

And it turns out to be immense.

Nurse’s in hospitals appreciate the help of Personal Support Workers and agree to the fact that the presence of PSW’s in the multidisciplinary team has often lead to higher patient satisfaction rates.

As you would imagine, the number of job openings are very limited in hospitals. Tanisha shares helpful tips on how to find PSW jobs in a hospital.

She also shares a very clever strategy for you to present yourself as the best candidate, as and when there is a job opening in a hospital setting.

More specifically, other things mentioned during the interview are:

  • Personal Support Worker job duties in a hospital
  • PSW’s working along with Nurses in order to achieve better patient satisfaction rates
  • Various departments of the hospital where PSW’s work
  • Tips on how you can increase your chances of getting hired for a PSW job in a hospital

 
Resources/links related to the Interview

Do you work in a Hospital?
If you’re a PSW and work in a hospital or perhaps would like to work in a hospital, we would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment in the comments section below and tell us what strategies you are using to achieve your goal.

You can share what has worked and what is not worth trying. Listeners of this episode may benefit from your experiences. I think it will save a lot of time and energy to know about a particular strategy that you have already tried but has not yielded results.

Would love to see your comments!
 
Thank you!
I want to thank you for taking the time out to listen to this episode of the Personal Support Worker podcast. This was a relatively short interview, but of great value.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please share it using the buttons below.

And also, if you can spare a minute to review the show on iTunes.

Your kind gesture is much appreciated.

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Avlin
Avlin

Avlin is passionate about helping aspirants become better personal support workers. He is an entrepreneur and runs a clinic in Toronto.

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9 Comments

  1. I am a PSW that works full time in a long term care facility and part time in a hospital.
    There is a HUGE difference in job routine, expectations, job tasks, and the “grey areas”.

    What I found to be one of the biggest adjustments, was that in long term care when a resident yells “Nurse!” It is a psw who responds to that call.
    No regestered staff member would ever dare to answer a call bell, or resident in distress, unless the Psw has informed the registered staff that they are needed.

    The hospital was an eye opener.
    I am not allowed to respond to a call light.
    I am there to help the nurses when they need assistance with a transfer, a bed strip, or a boost in bed.
    My main duties include, filling the linen supplies, portering, writing patient schedules on their boards in their rooms, cleaning the shower rooms, and anything else the nurses may need that day.
    Sometimes, I get lucky, and I am asked to help give a patient a shower, or assist with a feed or other ADL, but its a very rare occasion.

    The hospital pay is great. However, I feel that my skills are not being used when I am working those shifts.
    I have also noticed that a lot of the RN’s are not as “friendly” to us PSW’s
    Actually they treat us like uneducated people that are in “their way”
    On a extremly rare occasion, an RN will ask a PSW for help. But its usually only when there is not any other nurse in sight – leaving the RN no choice.

    Usually there is only one PSW working on a unit at one time.
    I have heard and seen that when a unit is without a PSW, the nurses are upset, and claim to need our help.
    Yet, when we are there, they seem to complain a lot that we are in their way, and they don’t need us.

    This is the only hospital that I have ever worked in.( just over 4 years now) I would hope that other PSW’s have had better experiences.

    For me, after 9 years of being a PSW, I am in school upgrading so I can bridge into RPN.
    My experience has taught me that when I do become registered, I will know the true value of PSW’s and that working together, makes a stronger team, which will only benefit the most important people of all- Our patients 🙂

    • Thanks for sharing your experience. It gives a great first hand account of the differences in the duties of a PSW in a Long-term care and hospital.

      I’m in the nursing profession and work at a hospital. I do agree that the scope of practice for a Personal Support Worker at a hospital is very limited but it really depends on the department you are working in. For example, in the hospital where I work, PSW’s working on the rehab and palliative unit perform almost the same duties as one would do in a LTC. But those working in ICU (yes we’ve a PSW who works in critical care), only assist nurses as needed. They are also responsible for some of the tasks you’ve mentioned such as striping the bed, repositioning and boosting a patient up in the bed.

      Those nurses who do not consider Personal Support Workers as part of the interdisciplinary team, are undermining how important a role they play towards the goal of providing great care. PSW’s are the eyes and ears of the patients and I think their scope of practice needs to be widened to achieve even better patient satisfaction.

  2. I am interested in working as a PSW in the hospital because I enjoy working with different people in all nationality.

    • Monica, working in a hospital as a PSW is a great experience. Hospitals are also the highest paying among all the places where PSW can work.
      As of late, more and more hospitals are starting to utilize PSWs in many acute care in-patient units such as the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)!
      You can read this article about PSWs job description in a hospital and this one to learn more about hospitals that hire PSWs.

  3. I like to working as a psw. I am intersting to working with seniors and able to contribute to the quality of seniory and adults with disabilites by promotong their indepences dignity,socaial,emotional and physical well bring.

  4. I am intersting to working with seniors and able to contribute to the quality of life of seniary and adults with disabilites by promoting their independence dignity,social,emotional and physical well bring.

    • Georgia, we do not hire PSWs. Our website is an informational resource for the PSW industry.
      You can explore our jobs section for many articles that will help you find a job.
      Let us know how your job search is going.

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